A Northern Light

When I was assigned "A Northern Light" by Jennifer Donnelly, I saw the cover and thought-- oh dear: it looks like a chick flick, and the cover is troublingly Twilight-esque. Luckily, I was more troubled by the later, and this is definitely no literary atrocity by Stephanie Meyer. It is indeed a bit of a chick flick so far, but that doesn't bother me so much. It reads fast, and it has an interesting literary structure. The beginning seems to be non-linear, which I think is really interesting. I like the abstract feeling the book has, jumping between Maddie's defining moments in the Adirondacks. "A Northern Light" takes place in 1906 on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. Maddie works on a farm with a struggling Father, who seems rather tired of life after some past family strife. Maddie the creative type living in a conservative town, which makes it rather tough for her-- conservative in this sense meaning she's encouraged to inherit a family farm and reject higher education which is unfortunate, as she's been accepted into Barnard College, but can't pay for it. The plot starts to get interesting when the influence for the book, a domestic murder by Charles Gillette on Big Moose Lake in 1906, appears within the plot. Maddie ends up getting involved with some love letters between the future killer and victim, which end up becoming trial sensations. (For those who don't know, Charles Gillette and the future victim Grace Brown were lovers and Gillette murdered her apparently because she became pregnant). I see lots of potential for this book to become increasingly interesting, and it's already happening. Not to mention that it's a remarkably quick read, which any fourth quarter senior can enjoy.